Editing George Martin (section)

====1963====
As Martin had predicted, "[[Please Please Me (song)|Please Please Me]]" reached no. 1 on most of the British singles charts upon its release in January 1963. "From that moment, we simply never stood still", he reflected.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=119}} For the Beatles' first LP, Martin had the group record 10 new tracks to include with the four tracks already released (the A- and B-sides of their first two singles) for 14 tracks in total.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=116}} They accomplished this in one marathon recording session, on 11 February 1963, with the Beatles recording a mix of Lennon–McCartney originals and covers from their stage act. Nine days later, Martin overdubbed a piano part to the song "[[Misery (Beatles song)|Misery]]" and a [[celesta]] on "[[Baby It's You]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990}} The resulting album, ''[[Please Please Me]]'', became a huge success in the UK, reaching no. 1 on the charts in May and staying there for 30 consecutive weeks until replaced by the Beatles' second album, ''[[With the Beatles]]''. ''Please Please Me'' was the first non-soundtrack album to spend more than one year consecutively inside the top ten of what became the Official UK Albums Chart (with 62 weeks).<ref>{{cite web |title=Lewis Capaldi makes chart history: Albums with the most consecutive weeks in the Top 10 |website=officialcharts.com |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/albums-that-have-spent-a-year-or-longer-consecutively-inside-the-official-albums-chart-top-10__29837/ |access-date=15 June 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615052708/https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/albums-that-have-spent-a-year-or-longer-consecutively-inside-the-official-albums-chart-top-10__29837/ |archive-date=15 June 2020}}</ref>
[[File:Abbey road studios.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|[[Abbey Road Studios]], where Martin recorded Parlophone's artists]]
At this early stage of their working relationship, Martin played a major role in refining and arranging the Beatles' self-written songs to make them commercially appealing: "I taught them the importance of the [[hook (music)|hook]]. You had to get people's attention in the first ten seconds, and so I would generally get hold of their song and 'top and tail' it—make a beginning and end. And also make sure it ran for about two-and-a-half minutes so that it would fit DJs' programmes".{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=120}} "I would meet them in the studio to hear a new number. I would perch myself on a high stool and John and Paul would stand around me with their acoustic guitars and play and sing it. ... Then I would make suggestions to improve it and we'd try it again", he recalled.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=130}} The Beatles' frenetic recording schedule continued on 5 March 1963, as they recorded "[[From Me to You]]", "[[Thank You Girl]]", and an early version of "[[One After 909]]". Martin altered the arrangement of "From Me to You", substituting the Beatles' idea for a guitar intro with a vocalized "da-da-da-da-da-dum-dum-da", backed by overdubbed harmonica.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=130}} "From Me to You" reached no. 1 in the UK singles charts in early May, staying there for seven weeks.

The Beatles returned to EMI Studios on 1 July to record a new single, "[[She Loves You]]". Martin liked the song but was sceptical of its closing chord, a [[major sixth]] [[tone cluster|cluster]], which he found cliché.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=32}} The Beatles, now increasingly confident in their songwriting, pushed back. As Paul McCartney recalled, "We said 'It's such a great sound it doesn't matter; we've got to have it'".{{sfn|The Beatles|2000|p=96}} Martin and recording engineer [[Norman Smith (record producer)|Norman Smith]] changed the studio microphone arrangement for "She Loves You", giving the bass and drums a more prominent sound on the record.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=136}} "She Loves You" was released in late August and instantly became a massive hit in the UK, signalling the beginning of national [[Beatlemania]] and becoming the best-selling UK single by any artist in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ken Dodd 'third best-selling artist of 1960s' |agency=BBC News |date=1 June 2010 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/10201932 |access-date=18 September 2022}}</ref>

Sometime in 1963, Martin and Brian Epstein arranged a loose formula to record two Beatles albums and four singles per year.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=28}} The Beatles began work on their second LP on 18 July. Like their debut album, this record reflected the repertoire of the Beatles' contemporary stage act—at this time a mix of Lennon–McCartney originals and American R&B hits, particularly from [[Motown]].{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=138}} Additional album sessions followed on 30 July and into September–October.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=34–36}} Martin played piano on several of the tracks, including "[[Money (That's What I Want)]]", "[[You Really Got a Hold On Me]]", and "[[Not a Second Time]]", and also played [[Hammond organ]] on "[[I Wanna Be Your Man]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=34–36}} Martin was particularly impressed with the Lennon–McCartney tune "[[It Won't Be Long]]" and chose it to be the album opener.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=139}} ''With the Beatles'' came out on 22 November 1963 and spent 21 weeks atop the album chart.

Martin and the Beatles recorded their next single, "[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]" on 17 October—their first recording session with [[multitrack recording|four-track recording]].{{sfn|Lewisohn|1990|p=36}} Impressed with the song, Martin merely suggested adding handclaps and adding [[dynamic range compression|compression]] to Lennon's rhythm guitar sound to imitate the sound of an organ.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=151}} The single's B-side, "[[This Boy]]", featured complex three-part harmonies by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison that Martin arranged.{{sfn|Womack|2017|p=152}} "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became another huge seller, staying at no. 1 in the UK for five weeks—and, in January 1964, becoming the group's (and Martin's) first no. 1 in the US. The song became the US year-end no. 1 record of 1964.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 100 Hits of 1964/Top 100 Songs of 1964 |website=musicoutfitters.com |url=https://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1964.htm}}</ref>